[10/20/26] Lihn, Enrique: Celeste, Daughter of the Earth and Other Early Poems

New Directions, paperback

Translated by David Unger & Jonathan Cohen

Publication Date: October 20, 2026

Publisher Marketing:

Enrique Lihn is among the most important Chilean poets, alongside Nicanor Parra, since the generation of Gabriela Mistral, Vicente Huidobro, and Pablo Neruda. Lihn's first two poetry books represented here-- Nada se escurre (Nothing Slips Away), 1949, and Poemas de este tiempo y de otro (Poems of This Time and Another), 1955--introduce his dark, lyric genius and existential intensity. These works sounded the clarion call announcing that a new voice had been born within the rich and unrestrained tradition of Chilean poetry. This current volume contains a marvelous selection of Lihn's pioneering early work, translated exquisitely by Jonathan Cohen and David Unger, and introduced by the Chilean journalist and Lihn scholar Roberto Brodsky.